Bruised Petals
by ravengal
Summary: One shot. The spunky tomboy, Princess Daisy, takes a moment to reflect on her sad past, her fun present and her possible future. Hints of MarioxPeach and LuigixDaisy.


Author's note: Hello there!

Well, the main reason I've written this is that I've recently become a huge fan of Daisy. My boyfriend, however, strongly disagrees, so this fic was written to help him like her a bit more. XD Please enjoy.

P.S. I'm not sure if I got the plumber accent right. XP Please tell me if any of it needs fixing.

* * *

**Bruised Petals**

Loud engine noises buzzed around Princess Peach's garden as Princess Daisy, Yoshi and Toadette raced around the castle for the third time. Daisy was in her latex suit and driving a Standard Bike M, while Yoshi was driving a Bon Bon and Toadette was driving a Cheep Charger.

In front of her, Daisy could see a road rage ensuing between Yoshi and Toadette, their vehicles continuously crashing into one another.

"_Yah_ ha ha!" Toadette called out.

"_Ya_ ho!" Yoshi called back.

Spotting the finish line up ahead, Daisy pulled her bike into a wheelie. "_Oh_, yeah!" she called out. As her bike passed both her rivals, she felt the need to rub it in their faces a little. "_Ha_ ha!" When her bike dropped to the floor, she crossed the finish line and drifted her bike sideways to show off. "Yeah! I'm the be-est~!"

When her bike eventually slowed to a stop, she watched Yoshi drive past, humming cheerfully to himself and dancing. He was soon followed by a miserable-looking Toadette.

"Aww, no! Wah wah wah!" she said while rubbing her eyes.

Daisy smirked. As much as she liked the people of the Mushroom Kingdom, she always made sure to leave all friendships at the starting line. Friendships were no good if you wanted to win, as they only obstructed victory. Once the race was over, it was fine. She had nothing against either Yoshi or Toadette, after all. In fact, she was rather fond of them both.

"Oh, Daisy..." Peach said from nearby in a disappointed tone. She turned to see her cousin tending to her flowers. "You always misbehave when you get on a motorbike."

Daisy grinned, leaning on her handlebars. "Of course! It adds a bit of competitive spirit, you know?" She paused, then smirked knowingly. "Besides, _you've_ been known to laugh when you overtake someone, am I right?"

Peach blushed lightly. "Oh, my..." She pretended to cough and busied herself with her flowers. "Perhaps I _do_ get a little too into it sometimes..."

Daisy sniggered, then looked up as she saw a familiar figure in red approaching. "Hi, I'm Daisy!"

"Mama mia..." Mario replied with an exasperated smile, "you-a say dat-a every time, Daisy."

Daisy grinned again. "Well, it's true! Can't have you forgetting me now, can I?"

"Oh, Daisy..." Peach said with a small smile. She then turned to Mario. "Oh, that's right. I still owe you a cake for rescuing me yesterday, don't I? Let's go inside and I'll get to work on it."

"Ah, yes-a, de cake. Let's-a go!" Peach stood up, dusted herself off and headed towards the castle with Mario. Partway there, Mario jumped in the air. "Wahoo!"

Daisy smirked and shook her head. That crazy plumber. He was certainly a strange one, but she couldn't deny that he was a good match for her cousin. To think, she'd have never even met him if he hadn't rescued _her_ that one time, from Tatanga. At the time, however, she hadn't known that he'd been the one that Peach had had a crush on for many years...

* * *

"_Hey, Peach," Daisy said, "didn't you have your school dance recently?"_

"_Oh, yes!" Peach replied with a smile. "It was a wonderful evening."_

"_Cool! Did you take a date?"_

_Peach looked down and blushed. "Oh, um... well, yes..."_

_Daisy smirked. "Really, now?" She poked Peach with her index finger. "Who was he~?"_

"_Well... it was Mario, actually..."_

_Daisy paused. "Mario?" She withdrew her finger. "You've been mentioning that name a lot lately." She smirked again. "Do you have a __**crush**__ on this Mario guy~?"_

_Peach blushed harder. "Well, um..."_

_Daisy burst out laughing. "I knew it! I freaking knew it!"_

* * *

Daisy chuckled. It was more than obvious that Peach liked Mario and Mario liked Peach, but nothing ever seemed to happen between them. No one was ever sure whether they were dating or not. _She_ suspected that they _were_, but were trying to keep it under wraps. After all, Peach was the type to worry about the whole princess-dating-a-plumber thing. She highly doubted the kingdom would oppose a marriage between them, but, hey, that was Peach for you.

Climbing off her motorbike, she dragged it over to a safe spot and knelt down to chain it up. It was then that she caught sight of something green in the corner of her eye. Turning to look at it, she noticed that it was Mario's younger brother, Luigi. The plumber was chatting away to Toad and she couldn't help but smile at him. She really had a soft spot for the guy.

Now that she thought about it, though, if Mario had never rescued her from Tatanga, she'd have never felt the need to come to the Mushroom Kingdom. Therefore, she'd have never met Luigi. Wow, that was a depressing thought. She'd have never encountered the taller, greener, more handsome version of Mario.

She did often wonder what he thought of her. He'd often caught him staring sadly at Princess Peach, perhaps mourning the fact that 'the fairest in the land' was with his brother and not him. _She_ was fair, too, of course, but one couldn't deny that Peach was the epitome of a princess. She was gentle, polite and dainty – the exact opposite of _her_.

Oh, she'd tried to be like Peach once. For many years, she'd tried so hard, but it just wasn't her. Her smile grew bitter as the memories resurfaced.

* * *

"_Miss Daisy, please!" Pionpi said frantically. "If your mother catches you playing with that toy car... Wouldn't you rather play with this nice doll, instead?" He held out a doll._

_Daisy stuck her tongue out. "Nopesies!" she replied, dancing with her toy car. "Ba-a-by Daisy!"_

"_Miss Daisy, I insist." Pionpi yanked the toy car from her hands and replaced it with the doll. "It's unrefined for a princess to be playing with such a thing."_

_Daisy's eyes watered. Distressed at the loss of her toy car, she started crying._

* * *

"_Hello, I'm Princess Daisy," Daisy said, curtseying for the prince that her father was trying to match-make her with._

_She loathed curtseying. She cringed every single time she did it, but her parents wanted her to be just like her cousin, Peach, the 'fine example' of a princess. She should be delicate, girly and everything else that just wasn't her._

"_Stand up, straight, Daisy," her mother hissed._

_She stood up straighter._

* * *

"_Hello, I'm Princess Daisy..." Daisy said to Gao._

"_Ehhh, I'm not feeling it, Your Majesty," Gao replied. "Perhaps put a bit more 'oomph' into it."_

_Daisy gritted her teeth. She hated greeting people so formally. It drove her insane. "Hello, I'm Princess Daisy."_

"_Not really what the king and queen expect of you. Try again."_

_She clenched her fist, pushing down the urge to punch this talking sphinx across the horizon. "Hello, I'm Princess Daisy."_

_Gao smiled. "Getting there. Once more with feeling, Princess!"_

_She'd had enough. Her patience with his whole charade had snapped. Summoning all her pent-up energy, she yelled what she'd wanted to say for years._

"_Hi, I'm Daisy!"_

_Gao jumped back in surprise. "Princess! What on Earth-?"_

_It had felt good. It had felt __**really**__ good. No more stupid formality. No more trying to be like Peach. The bottom line was, she __**wasn't**__ like Peach, she'd __**never**__ be like Peach and, quite frankly, she didn't __**want**__ to be like Peach. Her entire kingdom could go to hell._

"_Hi, I'm Daisy! Hi, I'm Daisy! Hi, I'm Daisy!"_

_God, it felt good annoying the people who'd annoyed __**her**__ all her life. She was going to spam this catchphrase for all it was worth, because her kingdom had expected far too much of her and she was sick to death of it._

* * *

Daisy sighed, a tired smile on her face. Well, the sudden change had improved her life, that was for sure. Her parents had finally learned that they couldn't control her and her subjects had learned to stay out of her way. Peach had been surprised at the change, but she'd been more accepting of it than everyone else.

The problem was, she was good at being annoying. She knew she was. She'd purposely been annoying to get everyone in Sarasaland off her back. It had become a part of her, though, to the point where she delighted in annoying people in the Mushroom Kingdom, too. Maybe it was because she finally felt free. She tended to spend as little time as possible in Sarasaland these days, instead hanging out with Peach in the Mushroom Kingdom. Here, she could be herself and no one would really care.

She liked to greet people with the same line, whether she knew them well or not. 'Hi, I'm Daisy' was pretty much her catchphrase. The reason for this was because she wanted to be known for the girl she was _now_, rather than the girl she'd tried all her life to be.

She continued to watch as Luigi laughed at something Toad said, wondering idly what the green plumber truly thought of her. She knew that the two of them were good friends, but she didn't know what his taste in women was. Did he prefer the dainty and feminine types, like Peach? Or would he be okay with a competitive and feisty tomboy, like her?

Her thoughts were cut short as he spotted her and waved. After a moment, he started walking towards her. She quickly finished chaining up her motorbike and stood up to greet him, using the exact same line that she'd used the first time she'd met him.

"Hi, I'm Daisy!" she said with a bright smile.

He stopped walking and chuckled. "Oh, yes," he replied, "I'm-a well aware of dat."

"How's it going?"

"Oh, not-a too bad. Toad was just-a telling me a funny story."

"Is that so? Well, I'll have to get him to tell _me_ sometime."

"I'd-a fully recommend it."

Daisy nodded, then paused. "Hey, Weegee!"

"Dat's-a Luigi..."

"I know, silly!" She moved closer and lightly nudged him with her elbow. "So, I was wondering... you got any crushes at the moment?"

It was amazing how fast his face turned red. "Oh, uh..." He smiled sheepishly and scratched the back of his neck. "Well-a, maybe..."

"Oh ho _ho_! Who is she? You can tell me!" She winked.

He shied away from her, backing away very slightly. "Well-a... dat's a bit of a secret-a..."

"Tsk. You're no fun, Weegee~!"

"Luigi."

"I know~!"

Luigi paused. "Perhaps I'll-a tell her someday... but-a right now, I'm-a happy being-a friends-a."

"It's Peach, right? You have the same tastes as your brother."

"Oh, no no no no no!" Luigi paused again. "Well, I won't-a deny dat Peach is-a very nice... but-a she already has-a Mario."

"... So, you like someone else, then?"

"_Oh_, yeah!"

Hope rose in Daisy's chest. Perhaps she stood a chance, after all. She beamed. "Well, you just tell me who it is when you're ready to, okay?"

Luigi beamed back at her. "Okie _dokie_!"

She was satisfied with being friends for now. If he either wasn't ready for a relationship yet or was too bashful to test the waters, she could wait. Besides, she always did love a challenge...

**The End**


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